Saimin Jutsu
by Crazichi123
Summary: With his Mangekyou Sharingan and a new jutsu, Sasuke is able to take control of a new weapon...Naruto. Will Sakura have what it takes to save, not just her teammate, but all of Konoha?
1. Chapter 1

**Hi! I know it's been two years since I've updated and I feel really bad to my dedicated readers that are probably long gone by now, but I have rewritten this story and am not abandoning it. **

**Setting: This story takes place in Shippuden after the Invasion of Pain Arc, but before the Five Kage Summit Arc. **

**I really hope you enjoy! Sorry again for the super long, unintentional hiatus. **

"Sasuke." Naruto sighed as he stared into the eyes of his vengeful friend, and searched for the good that he knew was still inside of him. They were facing off in a field of endless grass. Naruto looked to Sakura at his side and vowed that no matter how this fight ended, she would get home alive and well. He turned his attention back to Sasuke.

"This is your last chance to come home peacefully."

Suddenly, Sasuke was in front of Naruto, aiming a sword at his heart. Naruto, quickly side stepped the attack, just barely avoiding the sword from piercing him.

_'Sasuke, you're still as fast as ever'_

The rogue shinobi examined Naruto after the dodge. He seemed lively, unfazed, and confident. That would all change very soon.

"You've gotten a bit faster, but you still have no chance of beating me in this fight." Sasuke taunted.

"I'm not just faster, I'm stronger too." Naruto said as he glared at Sasuke. He had three clones at Mount Myoboku, ready to activate Sage Mode the moment he dispelled one.

Sasuke had heard of Naruto's newfound power. He had heard that Pein had destroyed Konoha in a matter of seconds, yet he had still faced defeat at Naruto's hands. He knew Naruto's level of power had skyrocketed since the last time they met, and the defeat of an enemy as powerful as Pein should be a prelude to the end of their own battle.

Sasuke's iris's turned red, with a black wheel in it.

But Pain didn't have Sharingan.

"We'll see."

"He rescued the whole village." cried the voice of Sakura Haruno, confirming the great strength of her blond friend. "Underestimating him will be your last mistake."

Sasuke glared at his ex-comrade as he fueled chidori into his sword. "Well let's put that power to the test." He said as he swiped his sword at Naruto's head.

Naruto dispersed one of his clones and activated Sage Mode. Sasuke smirked as he saw the orange pigment surround his opponent's eyes. He watched Naruto and, using his Sharingan, saw that his chakra turned into a yellow-green color. He watched Naruto's speed and strength greatly increase, but no matter how hard he tried, copying the jutsu with his Sharingan proved an impossible feat.

Sasuke grunted as he just barely ducked away from Naruto's chakra filled fist aiming at his head. He swiped at Naruto's chest with his sword, but Naruto jumped away with ease.

"Can't you see Sasuke? You're Sharingan can't copy this jutsu." He said as he aimed a regular Rasengan at him, hard enought to hurt him, and maybe knock him unconcious, but not kill him. This is why he was afraid to use his improved Wind Style: Rasen Shuriken. "It's not ninjutsu, it's senjutsu."

Sasuke smirked again as he dodged Naruto's Rasengan.

"Lucky for me, Naruto, I don't need to copy it. You certainly have improved from our last fight, but I have some new tricks up my sleeve too."

_'I just need to wait for the right time to use it.' _thought Sasuke.

Naruto sighed. Sasuke really wasn't backing down, but neither was he. This time, he will bring his friend home.

Sakura watched from the sidelines, always ready to jump in if necessary. Naruto had told her that she should stand aside while he was in Sage Mode to avoid accidentally hurting her, but that if he hadn't defeated Sasuke by the time he had used all his Shadow Clones, she could run in and fight with him. Though she was reluctant to follow his request at first, watching this battle between her childhood teammates, she now completely understood. She was in awe at how fast they were moving. Both boys were just blurs and colors dashing across the field faster than her eyes could follow. Besides, after Naruto had singlehandedly defeated Pain and rescued the village, she had no reason not to trust him. _  
><em>

_'I'm here if you need me.'_ she thought with a determined smile on her face. _'But I know you can defeat him Naruto, I know you can bring him back home.'_

* * *

><p>Sasuke grunted as he dodged Naruto's attacks, barely able to get some of his own attacks in. He had already exhausted almost half his chakra, and the fight had been going on for only a few minutes.<p>

_'And we're not even going at each other with everything we have.'_ Sasuke thought. And it was true. They both had desires besides the death of their opponent to be the outcome of this battle. But he was steadily running out of energy, his original advantage of speed has been overcome by Naruto's senjutsu, and Naruto's stamina had always been superior. Naruto had ten times more chakra than Sasuke, if he ran out, it would be over for him.

_'I need to find a way to distract him, just for a second so I can perform my new jutsu on him.' _thought Sasuke desperately. His eyes widened as an idea came to him. He gathered chakra in his hands and released his attack when he found an opening.

"Chidori Senbon!" he cried as he released more than thirty lightning senbons at his target. Naruto prepared to dodge the attack, but his eyes widened when he saw that the attack wasn't aimed at him at all.

"Sakura-chan!" Naruto cried out desperately, knowing that due to the distance and the speed of the senbons, he could not run to protect her in time.

Sasuke took advantage of this moment of hesitation, this second of contemplation, and in a flash, he was behind Naruto, slamming a seal into the back of his head.

"AAAAAhhhh!" Naruto cried out in agony as a searing pain suddenly shot through his head. Naruto fell to the ground, feeling fire run through his body and a pressure in his head that felt like his eyes would burst from their sockets.

"What... What did you-?"

Sasuke silenced Naruto by forcefully grabbing him by the chin, one hand still holding the seal at the back of his head, and making him to look into his eyes which now sported the Mangekyou Sharingan.

"Cursed Seal Saimin no Jutsu." Sasuke stated calmly as he pumped his chakra into the seal. This was his power, a mixture of the Cursed Seal and Genjutsu from his Sharingan.

"No... I-" Naruto let out another bloodcurdling yell as the fire that seemed to be consuming his body grew hotter and hotter.

"Naruto!" Sakura yelled as she ran towards them, she was able to dodge most of the senbon, though one had planted itself into her thigh, and another had skimmed her arm. She made her way over to Naruto as quickly as possible. Which wasn't quick enough due to the hole in her leg, and her body still suffering from the electrocution of the chidori.

As Sakura stood in front of the boys, both of Naruto's eyes were a deep crimson red. He was rolling on the floor tormented, as if flames were consuming him from the inside. He was sweating like crazy, and the veins in his head looked like they would burst.

"If you survive this. All your power will be mine." Sasuke stated before easily sidestepping three kunai Sakura futilely tried to throw at him. He glanced at her, uninterested.

"It's no use. He belongs to me now."

He made his way over to Sakura, Chidori fueled sword in hand, more than ready to finish her off. What stopped him was a feeble hand that he felt wrap around his ankle. He saw Naruto's weak, shaking body, and knew that it took his last bits of strength to even lift his arm. He had a weak grip on his leg, and Sasuke could have easily shaken him off and continued on his way. But he stopped, looking down at his ex-teammate before turning to look at Sakura.

"Tch. You're wounded and miles from Konoha. You'll probably die in this field anyway." he stated sheathing his sword. "I don't have to kill you, I'll just let you rot here."

She glared up at Sasuke. "I won't just let you take him. I'll save Naruto."

Sasuke scoffed.

"The only way you can take him back from my control is to kill me." Sasuke shook his head. He looked down at her pathetic form, bleeding in the grass. She was always the weakest link, a little girl who leeched off the power and determination of her teammates. He looked down on her with the most condescending look he could muster.

"You and I both know you will never be strong enough to kill me." he said just before Naruto let out another agonized yell and grabbed his head in pain.

Sakura gave Sasuke a determined glare.

"I will... for Naruto." she replied.

"Sakura..." Naruto groaned, trying to speak, but before he could finish, he and Sasuke were gone in a stream of fire, the same way Sasuke had departed the last time they had met with him, Orochimaru, and Kabuto. The last blurry sight she saw of her teammate, as she looked on with tear-filled eyes, was his disheveled appearance and tormented crimson eyes before he was consumed by fire, and taken away from her.

The fallen kunoichi laid her head in the grass as tears rolled down her face.

"Naruto..."

**I really hope you guys liked the first chapter, and will continue to read the story. **

****Edit: Ok, so people have been asking about ships. I want to make it clear that there will be no _explicit_ romance in this fic since it's more about Sakura's development, and friendship. Besides crushes that already exist in canon, Sakura's feelings for Naruto will grow, and there will be some implied one-sided SasuNaru, but that is the most of it. However, I do have a possible sequel planned (depending on how many of you are interested) that would contain NaruSaku and maybe NaruSasu depending on how many of you like it (tell me in a review if you do). So if you want romance, please keep reading and your needs will be supplied in the sequel, for now, enjoy some development! ****

**Please Review, because that's where I get my inspiration and motivation! Constructive criticism is the only way I can improve my writing. Anyway, thanks for reading. **

**Keep on Reading**


	2. Chapter 2

**Here is the revised chapter 2!**

Sakura laid on her back in the grass, motionless, defenseless, hopeless. She was extremely hungry. The growls of her stomach and pains of hunger had subsided into a numb emptiness. It's as if her stomach knew that it wasn't getting food and that she would die in that field; so it just... gave up.

She had tried to make her way back to Konoha after Sasuke took Naruto away, but she didn't even make it to the forest before she collapsed from exhaustion and the strain on her wounds. Still laying in that wretched field, she had watched the sun rise, set, then rise again. Sleep was not an option as a result of the scene of Naruto's capture playing and replaying in her head, all through the night and well into the morning. She sighed sadly as she thought of where the recent situation left her. She was all alone. Her and Kakashi were all that was left of the original Team 7. Naruto and Sasuke were two of the most important people in her life; and now, they were both gone.

As she gazed sadly at the sky above her, she saw an eagle fly by overhead. Tears escaped from her eyes, rolling down her face and sinking into the soil beneath her. She thought of all of the times Naruto had put his life on the line trying to save her. She thought of all of the times he had thrown all his dreams and life goals away, just to make sure he protected her.

_'Because I was too weak to protect myself.'_

She tried again to turn over and stand, but she only fell back to the ground in pain, still feeling the effects of Sasuke's chidori senbons.

"_Sasuke-kun_." she grabbed a fistful of grass as she spat out the name of her childhood crush like venom on her tongue, completely consumed by the hatred she felt for him boilng inside of her. All those years ago, he had left her in Konoha, depressed, needy, heartbroken, lonely. And now, he had done it again, and it hurt much _much _worst.

Sakura laid in the grass looking up at the clear, blue sky, feeling the breeze lightly tousle her hair. The serenity of the weather _far_ from matched her sullen mood.

_'I really am hopeless, aren't I? How can I even call myself a ninja?'_

The truth is, she was the weakest member of Team 7, and she definitely wasn't strong enough to defeat Sasuke. If the two were to fight, anyone who bet on Sasuke, even if it was Tsunade, would clearly win. He'd beat her in a heartbeat.

_'Naruto has done everything and more for me. He has put his dreams and aspirations aside, fully willing to throw it all away, just to make sure my worthless life continues.'_

Her body shook as she sobbed into the dirt.

_'What have I done for him? Look at me now, powerless, just pitifully sobbing into the dirt. I can't even save **myself**. What can I do for him?'_

Her thoughts were interrupted by footsteps running in her direction. It had taken her and Naruto about a day to catch up to Sasuke, and based on the movements and current position of the sun, she had been lying here for about a day and a half, so the footsteps she heard were most likely back-up Konoha ninja.

"Sakura!" she heard the voice of her sensei cry out. She used all her remaining strength, still weak from the senbons, to lift her head and see that it was Kakashi and Hinata, with an activated Byakugan, who had come to her rescue.

"Kakashi-Sensei." she sighed. She was again making someone go out of their way to rescue her.

"Sakura, what happened? Where's Naruto?" Kakashi asked, getting right to the point as he lifted the wounded kunoichi onto his back.

"S-Sasuke-kun... took him." she muttered weakly as she allowed herself to be carried, piggyback, by her sensei. She heard Hinata mutter 'Naruto-kun' worriedly under her breath, and she knew Hinata had not come to see her. Sakura sighed in annoyance as she remembered her revelation that Hinata was in love with Naruto.

"H-he's not dead, is he?" asked a sullen Hinata.

Sakura shook her head from left to right to reassure Hinata of him being very much alive.

She tactfully left out the part about him screaming in complete agony as he was taken away.

_"Naruto." _she sighed sadly as his cries of agony's, still fresh in her mind, rang in her head. She shut her eyes tightly, preventing the tears that filled her eyes from falling.

**_"It's no use. He belongs to me now."_**

_'What did that even mean?'_ she thought as she piggybacked Kakashi back to Konoha, Hinata at their side.

"Kakashi..." she felt herself growing weary, and knew she would soon black out. "Sasuke, has a new jutsu." she informed him with heavy eyelids.

"Do you know anything about it?" Kakashi inquired. Sakura remembered Sasuke slamming a seal onto Naruto, causing him to fall to the floor in excruciating pain.

She shook her head.

"He's going to use it to... to control Naruto. It's called-" she closed her eyes as lack of food and blood loss stole away her consciousness, memories of Naruto's screams still ringing in her ears.

"Saimin no Jutsu."

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><p>Sakura rubbed her eyes as she awoke, preparing them for the light that would flood them as they opened. As she slowly opened her eyes and looked around, she saw she was in a Konoha medic tent, due to rebuilding still being in progress. She crawled off her cot and peeked outside the tent entrance to see that, based on the position of the sun, it was about early afternoon. She looked to see none other than Kakashi sensei sitting outside her tent as well, reading one of his pervy books as he seemingly waited for her to awaken.<p>

_'What am I doing here?'_ she asked herself, almost instantly recieving an answer when her most recent memories flooded her brain. She frowned regretfully as she remembered how she had been unable to rescue Naruto.

"Kakashi-sensei?" she said, alerting him to her conciousness. He slowly lifted his head from the book as if getting his last bits of the engaging words in before acknowledging the pink-haired kunoichi.

"Sakura." after dragging his eyes from the book, his attitude transformed to stern and serious as he put the book down and stood from his seat outside her tent. He ignored the pain in his butt, inflicted from having sat on the ground for so long, as he made his way inside her tent. "How are you feeling?"

Sakura shrugged at the copy nin as she absentmindedly began to twirl her hair before responding.

"There's a hole in my leg from Sasuke's attack, but other than that, I'm fine." Sakura stated with a forced smile as she tried, and failed, to lighten the mood. Kakashi sat, unamused by her statement.

"I don't mean to sound hasty due to you having just woken up and all, but I need you to tell me exactly what happened in the valley with you Naruto and Sasuke."

Sakura's forced smile immediately fell as memories of Naruto's painful capture filled her mind.

_'That day.'_ she looked at her hands, and saw they were shaking._ 'That moment that I watched Sasuke take Naruto.'_ Her vision blurred as tears filled her eyes. She closed her eyes in an attempt to contain her tears.

Sakura stared at her hands as she sadly relayed the events of Naruto's capture in great detail. She regretfully relived the traumatizing memory as Kakashi, listening attentively, did not miss a single syllable.

**_"You and I both know you will never be strong enough to kill me."_**

Sakura scowled as her mind conjured the memory of Sasuke's condescending tone as he spoke to her.

"So he says you have to kill him to save Naruto?" Kakashi asked suddenly, reminding Sakura of his presence as she had gotten lost in her memories.

She nodded sadly in reply to his question.

"Sakura." he said sounding determined but hesitant. He was obviously deep in thought, contemplating something important. "Naruto is my student, and a hero of Konoha. I don't know exactly how powerful Sasuke has become, but if I could, I would kill him in a heartbeat if it meant saving Naruto." Sakura continued to stare at the floor, her head in her knees, as she continued to listen to Kakashi speak.

"I've watched Naruto grow and advance so much, and to see all of his hard work go to waste, or be used for any purpose that he doesn't desire is completely unacceptable. I would be glad to defeat Sasuke and free Naruto from the jutsu. It's almost my duty."

Sakura sighed.

_'Kakashi sensei is right. He's definitely strong enough to face Sasuke in battle and even has a chance of winning. I don't even have a shot at lasting more than five minutes.'_

"But..." Kakashi said suddenly. "You are Naruto's friend, and comrade. You two have been through things that I can't even begin to comprehend. All the times he's laid his life down for you proves how special you are to him and I know you wish you could've done more to show him you care in return.

The masked ex-Anbu laid a strong hand on Sakura's good shoulder as he spoke his next words.

"And it is for that reason, Sakura, that it is _your_ duty, not mine, to defeat Sasuke, and repay Naruto for all the times he has saved you." Sakura's head shot up, surprised at his words.

"_Me?_" she asked frantically as she began to nervously play with her light pink hair.

"What can I do against _Sasuke_?"

"Sakura, you have the drive, and determination to save Naruto, just as Naruto had the drive and determination to save Sasuke." Kakashi explained. "Naruto's desperation to rebuild his friendship with Sasuke by bringing him back to the village is what made him so powerful. It is your will to bring Naruto back that will make you powerful enough to defeat Sasuke."

Sakura looked down as she contemplated his words, letting them sink in. Could she really ever be as strong as Naruto? Strong enough to defeat Sasuke?

"Remember Sakura, now that Naruto is under Sasuke's control, you may have to get through him before you can get to Sasuke." Sakura tried and failed to imagine driving a kunai into her pure-hearted, innocent, blonde-haired, blue-eyed, friend. "You need to learn to do that, not only without killing him, but also without hesitating either." Sakura gulped at the unfathomable thought of facing Naruto in combat.

"Though it is your job to ineveitably kill Sasuke, as you and Naruto's sensei, I am going to do my part, by making sure you succeed in your task to rescue Naruto." he looked at the floor, hesitating with his next statement.

"Sakura... I'm going to give you my Sharingan."

**Ok, so I wrote this story two years ago and I am well aware that if Sakura were to fight Sasuke the way they are NOW in the manga, she would lose :( However, I do believe that in the setting of the story, she could defeat Sasuke with the right training. Lol, anyway hope you enjoyed. **

**Keep on Reading!**


	3. Chapter 3

Sakura's eyes widened to the size of saucers as the words left the masked jonin's mouth.

"Ka...Kakashi-sensei, I-" her teacher held up a hand to stop her from continuing.

"My mind is made up Sakura, I'm offering you my Sharingan."

"I... I..." Sakura could barely utter a word. Her mouth just hung open, and she couldn't get it to move for the life of her. She was paralyzed by surprise, shocked speechless by her teacher's offer. He wants to give her his eye?

"Sakura, if you keep hanging your mouth open like that, you might catch flies." Kakashi joked as he smiled under his mask.

Sakura remained in her current position, unfazed by his statement. He wants to give her his _eye_.

Not only was the thought of trading eyes with someone in and of itself _revolting,_ but what that eye meant to Kakashi-sensei is what made taking it absolutely unacceptable! He made a name with that eye! He's the legendary copy nin! That eye belonged to his best friend who sacrificed his _life_ to save him. To take it from him would be despicable.

"Sakura, I know you might be hesitant to accept because of what you know my Sharingan means to me, but need I remind you I'm _offering_ it to you. Just promise to use it well and everything's fine." Kakashi assured her with a smile.

He's right. He _was_ offering it to her, and not without good reason. Maybe she should accept it? She would master jutsus with unnatural speed! She remembered all the times she would look at Sasuke and see how easy it was for him to grasp jutsu. It amazed her! She used to wish she was born an Uchiha.

_'Uchiha Sasuke.' _the name immediately darkened her thoughts.

Sakura remembered watching Sasuke train, admiring how effortlessly he could master a jutsu once he activated his Sharingan. Once demonstrated he could execute it perfectly.

_'Things always did seem to come easy to Sasuke.'_

And if she accepted the Sharingan and got stronger Sasuke's way, things would come easy to her too.

_'But I don't want to do this Sasuke's way.'_

"Kakashi-sensei... I humbly decline your offer." this statement caused Kakashi's eyes to widen, showing his surprise at her refusal.

"Sakura, I-" the young kunoichi held up a hand to silence him.

"I understand that you're willing to sacrifice your eye so I can perfect my jutsu's faster, but... I don't want to do this Sasuke's way." She felt the man's gaze bore into her, unsure of what his reaction to her words would be.   
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"Sakura... Do you _want_ to kill Sasuke?" Kakashi asked.

_'Of course!'_ she wanted to answer, but the words refused to leave her mouth.

"I will always hate him for what he did." she replied instead. Kakashi raised an eyebrow at her indirect answer.

"Alright, well let me rephrase that. Sakura, if faced with the opportunity, will you be able to kill Sasuke. Can you look Sasuke in the eyes and plunge a kunai into his heart?"

Sakura sweat dropped.

"Wow Kakashi-sensei, did you really have to phrase the question so graphically?" she asked. He ignored her question, giving her a stern stare; so much intensity radiating from his one unmasked eye. She got his point. She remembered their years together as Team 7. Her thoughts filled with the memories she spent with her childhood crush. Sure, he hadn't liked her very much, but he had still found a way to create memories with her that left an imprint on her heart. He was an S-rank criminal, and an enemy to Konoha, yet deep down...

He was Uchiha Sasuke of Team Kakashi... he was still a part of Team 7. And a part of her, a sick, twisted part of her, still couldn't deny that the romantic feelings she had harbored for him once, years ago still lingered. Sakura knew once she saw Sasuke, her heart would melt and she wouldn't be able to kill him.

Sakura sighed.

"No." She said with a scowl as she looked at the floor ashamed at her answer. "I wouldn't be able to kill him." the thought that after all he had done to her and her friends, she still couldn't get herself to completely hate him... it was sickening. And she wanted to, she wanted to kill him so bad. She wanted to break her bonds with him just as he had so easily done to her.

_'And I will.' _she thought as she looked up at Kakashi, green eyes burning with determination.

"But we're just going to have to change that, won't we?" She offered fists clenched tight. He nodded, but still didn't smile under his mask.

"But Sakura, if you want the honor of killing him, we're going to have to work fast before the elders take matters into their own hands. Remember, Sasuke's not just in possession of Naruto, but the Nine Tails as well."

She had forgotten about that. But how was she going to get stronger in time?

"Kakashi-sensei, teach me..." She thought of Naruto's smiling face. "Shadow Clone Jutsu."

* * *

><p>"Sasuke! What did you do to him?" Karin asked when he and the screaming blonde boy entered. Sasuke, completely unfazed by Karin's reaction, ignored her question as if she hadn't uttered a word.<p>

"Whatever you did, he looks really messed up." Suigetsu said over Naruto's pained yells. "I feel like we should just kill him and put him out of his misery." He gave Sasuke a pleading look.

"We are not killing him." he commanded with a glare. "This is the result of my new jutsu." he answered curtly.

"Are you sure you did it right?" Suigetsu asked as he stared uneasily at the writhing blond, Sasuke scowled.

"Of course I did it right." he looked over at his childhood friend. "It's all up to him whether he survives this or not."

Karin got up and took a step away from the boy.

"This is the guy that's been chasing us around." Karin raised an eyebrow at Sasuke in confusion. "Why would you bring him here?"

Sasuke's face remained an emotionless mask as he spoke.

"He's powerful. He will be of use to me." he adopted a stern look. "None of you go near him. The process should be complete soon." he glared at Naruto. "Unless he resists."

He looked down at Naruto condescendingly.

"That's why it hurts so much. You're trying to resist it, aren't you?" he asked receiving only a defiant glare from his ex-comrade in return.

"I've worked... too hard to have you look at me like that..." he spoke shakily. It took everything in him to find the strength to speak. "I've worked too hard..." He spoke in an act of defiance as he felt his will slowly being stripped away. "Sasuke you _bastard_." he finally spat.

"Accept the fact that you will soon be under my control or you die." Sasuke said as he looked down at the weak, shaking boy, on his hands and knees, as if bowing at Sasuke's mercy. He knew it was the exact opposite, though that would soon change.

Naruto lifted his glare off the floor and into Sasuke's deep black eyes. In his goal to save Sasuke from the darkness, he was now unwillingly being dragged into it himself. He couldn't let that happen. He had worked his whole life to reach his goals. He couldn't let Sasuke take that away from him. He had friends that he vowed to protect, he had dreams that he wanted to fulfill. He had to be the light that would lead Sasuke home. He had to become Hokage, see Sakura walk down the aisle in a white dress, see all his friends safe and happy. He couldn't just let Sasuke take his will away, and he fought it, he really did.

"Sasuke...please..." Fire ran through his veins and seemed to be consuming him from the inside, and even with his resistance, it slowly creeped through him. He was slowly stripped of his will, his thoughts, his ambitions, until he only had one... to follow any instructions given by Sasuke. His pained and determined face fell into an emotionless mask, blue eyes dyed red, and as he turned to Sasuke, he looked, not with disdain, or anger, but with no emotion at all. Simply empty red eyes struggling to stay open so he could follow the orders of his master. But he was too weak, and finally as the pain subsided from his body, his eyes rolled to the back of his head and he fell from his hands and knees on to the floor, his sight consumed by darkness.

"He's not... dead, is he?" asked Karin with slight worry.

"No." was Sasuke's reply. "He's complete."

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><p><strong>Thank You and<strong>

**Keep on Reading!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Hey, here's a little warning, when I started writing this story two years ago, I didn't know as much about Karin. She probably wouldn't be as nice as she is in this story but I can't change it because she's really important to the plot, so sorry for Karin's slight OOC-ness. **

"Try again!" she heard her sensei order. The past two days have been spent helping her perfect her shadow clones so she could use them in training. After Sakura had turned down Kakashi's sharingan, he kept his offer open in case she changed her mind.

She breathed deeply again, pushing all thoughts of Kakashi, Naruto, and especially Sasuke out of her mind. She took a deep breath and concentrated all her chakra into recreating her body. She heard the _'poof'_ that indicated that her clone was ready and opened her eyes.

"Ahh!" she shrieked as she looked over at her _'clone'_, which was actually a lifeless version of herself with a misshapen body and an abnormally small head and hands.

_'At least my forehead isn't big anymore.'_ she thought sarcastically as she glanced distastefully at her creation that most definitely did _not_ look like her. She realized it wasn't so lifeless when it opened it's eyes and began to twitch. Sakura screamed and quickly dispersed her latest creation, breathing heavily, she dropped to the ground with a defeated sigh. She had thought she could do this. She had believed just the thought of Naruto suffering would alone be enough to get her through these exercises, but apparently she was wrong.

_'Usually training exercises come so easy to me! But I've been doing this for two days straight with no success!'_ she thought sullenly as she dropped her head in her hands. _'I want to get him back but... I don't...'_

"Sakura, why are you sitting down? We're not done here." Kakashi inquired as he crossed his arms and raised his unmasked eyebrow.

"Kakashi-sensei. I'm sorry but... I just don't know if I can do this." she replied shamefully as she buried her face in her arms. This jutsu used an exuberant amount of chakra, she had only made three (deformed) clones today and she was already exhausted. She tilted her head up slightly as she heard Kakashi give a heavy sigh.

"Two days of my life wasted." he said as he pulled his perverted book up to his face and began to walk away. "I'm just not sure I can bear to see how disappointed Tsunade's going to be in you."

"Tsunade-sama... she knows." Sakura asked, surprised as Kakashi nodded his head in affirmation.

"Of course, she's the Hokage. I needed permission to delay a rescue team in order to train you. And she said if it was any other shinobi, she never would have allowed it."

Sakura felt herself tense up, predicting her sensei's next words.

"It's because of you, Sakura. It is only because of her faith in you that she has granted my request."

Sakura tried to stop herself, but she couldn't help it when her eyes filled with tears.

"There are search teams trying to determine Naruto's location, there are people who volunteered specifically to rebuild Naruto's apartment so he'd have a home when he gets back. Everyone's doing their part, and all their hard work relies on the hope that you will bring Naruto back. You can't give up, it's not an option."

_'Naruto…'_

"Everything you know, all your skills and techniques and jutsu's, they're all based off of your strengths; intelligience, memory, and chakra control. Shadow clones are completely based off of ninjutsu and stamina, which are _far_ from your strong points." he gave a small smile under his mask as he saw the green-eyed kunoichi's eyes fill with realization. "But I have enough faith in you to believe you can improve your weaknesses and turn them into strengths." he continued as he saw his words get through to her, helping her realize what her problem has been the entire time.

_'Everyone's counting on me to save you…'_

"I have created a technique that only a person with _exceptional_ chakra control can use." he blushed as he nervously rubbed the back of his head. "I created it and even I haven't mastered it yet." he added sheepishly, receiving a smile from the pink-haired chunin. "Sakura, I believe you can master this technique."

_'And I won't let them down!'_

"Kakashi-sensei." she started, her eyes shining with hope and excitement. "Sorry I wasted so much time." She stated before making the proper hand signs. The last thought in her mind was Naruto's smiling face before she concentrated on using her chakra to remake her body.

"Shadow Clone Jutsu!"

* * *

><p>Karin entered the cell holding a plate of breakfast for its single prisoner. She looked down at the blond boy, asleep on the floor, silently wondering why he had whisker marks on his cheeks.<p>

_'Not that I haven't seen weirder, working for Orochimaru and all.'_

She looked down wearily at the boy, somewhat afraid to touch him as she sensed a very dark and powerful chakra from him. It seemed to intensify as he slept since it didn't feel as intense as it did four nights ago when the boy was first brought in by Sasuke. Based on the chakra she sensed, she could easily see why Sasuke thought this boy would make a valuable addition to their group. She sensed his chakra to be more powerful than that of the Hachibi they had attempted to capture only days ago. Though, based on what she saw, he seemed to be more of a prisoner of Taka than a member. She decided to kick the boy awake, then run a few feet away in case something went wrong.

The rude awakening caused him to sputter, he winced at the movement due to a terrible pain in his neck, caused by sleeping on the hard cold floor of his cell. He blinked his eyes rapidly to adjust to the light before realizing that there barely was any. He looked around, his eyes finally landing on a red-haired girl holding a plate of food. His stomach growled, begging him for nourishment and he flashed the girl a smile.

"Is that for me, and if not, you mind sharing? I'm starving!" he said with a wide grin, his metal shackles clanging together as he lifted his arm, placing a hand on his growling stomach.

She made no move towards him. The great intensity of the chakra had faded, but it's intimidating darkness still lingering. It was strange how something so dangerous and scary could come from the smiling, whisker-faced, boy, harmlessly chained to the floor in tattered maroon robes. His face fell as he saw that she made no move to get any closer.

The look in her eyes reminded Naruto of the fear he had seen on the faces of those who recognized his power. It brought back memories of feeling isolated and lonely; memories of hurting the people closest to him like Jiriya and Sakura.

"Y-your chakra." she stuttered, causing his frown to deepen.

"Yeah, I know." he said before pushing his sadness away and replacing it with a forced smile. "Don't worry, I'm not much of a threat on an empty stomach." he joked, causing Karin's eyes to widen in surprise.

"You're our prisoner. You should be cursing and yelling and spitting at me." she explained incredulously. "How are you so carefree and smiling?"

Naruto tapped a finger on his chin as he thought of a reply.

"How about this, I'll trade you an answer for that delicious looking plate of food in your hands that I would absolutely hate to see wasted."

She gave him a curious glance before slowly making her way towards him with the plate she was ordered to deliver to him. As she drew closer to him, she noticed that he actually had two chakra's and that, though there was more of the dark chakra, there was a fairly large amount of the other chakra too, at least more than that of a regular person, anyway. The other chakra was warm and bright, very comforting, especially in comparison to the dark chakra that sent chills down her spine.

After he had attained his meal and taken a few bites, he wiped his mouth with his sleeve and sighed in satisfaction at finally giving in to his stomach's pleas for food before glancing back at the glasses wearing girl.

"I don't really remember much of why I'm here or what happened, but I do remember being in a fight with Sasuke before I ended up here, so I assume Sasuke is the one who captured me." the girl nodded, confirming his beliefs, silently urging him to continue.

"Well honestly, even if I am only here as his prisoner, I feel like being here, so close to Sasuke brings me one step closer to bringing him back to Konoha." his eyes widened in surprise as the red-headed girl exclaimed.

"Wait, _you're_ Naruto! You're the one who's always trying to bring Sasuke back to Konoha!" he nodded in confusion.

"Sasuke told you about me?" Naruto asked skeptically, finding that unusual for Sasuke since he apparently wanted to sever his bonds with him. He ate a few more bites of food as he awaited the girl's response.

"Sorta." she answered as a blush as bright as her hair dusted her pale cheeks. "He kind of talks in his sleep." she explained causing Naruto to raise an eyebrow at the strange statement.

"You watch him sleep?" he asked, amused as the girl's blush deepened.

"He says interesting things!" she defended lamely.

"Well that would explain why you follow him around." he said, ignoring her lame defense and coming to his own conclusions. "So you're in love with Sasuke too, huh?"

"Wha-! I am not!" she protested before her defensive mood changed to curiousity and jealousy. "And what do you mean _'too'_?" she asked before patiently waiting for him to finish chewing his food.

"Before Sasuke left the village to train with Orochimaru, he and I were both on Team 7, along with my good friend Sakura, who was in love with him." he explained before looking away from his half empty plate at the girl. "I'll assume he doesn't return your feelings?" he inquired, finding his answer when the girl turned a woeful gaze to the ground. Naruto shook his head.

"Same old Sasuke, always rejecting the efforts of beautiful women." he looked over at her with a foxy grin. "I'd reccomend getting over him, I'm pretty sure he's asexual."

The comment, though directed towards her crush whom she was mostly pretty defensive of, caused her to crack a smile. She also blushed after realizing that Naruto had implied that she was beautiful.

"So how does this Sakura girl look." she asked curiously, taking notice at how Naruto's eyes lit up at the mention of her.

"Well she has short pink hair and light green eyes. She's _really_ smart, one of the smartest people I know! And she is determined, hard-working and _very_ strong." he explained, rubbing his cheek as it tingled when he remembered all the times her fist had made contact with it. Karin thought it sweet that he mostly listed personality traits when describing her, proving he cared for her far beyond her looks.

"Well I think it's easy to assume that you're in love with this Sakura girl?" she said, her theory confirmed at him blushing and nodding his head in affirmation. She was surprised at how comfortable she was with the blond boy that was supposed to be her prisoner, his dangerous chakra forgotten.

"Speaking of which, did Sasuke tell you anything about Sakura, like whether or not she was ok?" Karin shook her head causing a frown to form on her near perfect features when she saw his face fill with concern.

"I wouldn't really worry if I were you." she said, placing a comforting hand on his shoulder. "For some reason, Sasuke is _very_ against unnecessary killing." she explained.

"Is that so?" he said softly as his lips curled up slightly. "Maybe Sasuke's not as far into the darkness as I thought, maybe bringing him home won't be so hard." Karin raised an eyebrow at his hopeful words.

"You really don't remember what happened two nights ago _at all_, do you?" Naruto slowly shook his head, the tone of her voice making him weary of her next words.

"Naruto, no offense but... I don't really think you have much of any chance bringing Sasuke back to Konoha with you."

"And why is that?" Naruto said furrowing his eyebrows at the thought of never fulfilling his promise.

"You're not just a prisoner here for no reason, you're a weapon." Karin explained solemnly as she remembered the boys screams when he was first brought in by Sasuke. "Once Sasuke activates Mangekyo Sharingan, you're completely under his control." she said as her eyes dropped to the floor before she could see his reaction the the news.

"You haven't just lost your freedom, you've lost control over your own body." she locked eyes with the boy, seeing his eyes wide, shocked frozen by her words.

"You belong to Sasuke now."

**There's chapter 4, rewritten! Sorry again about Karin. Please review and **

**Keep on Reading!**


	5. Chapter 5

She stared in awe as she looked at an exact replica of herself standing before her. Same green eyes, same pink hair...

_'Same flat chest, same big forehead.'_ she thought sarcastically. She was breathing heavily at the amount of chakra the jutsu used.

_'It's amazing how Naruto can use hundreds of these in battle, never even calling on the Nine Tail's for chakra. It's insane how much chakra he has, even without the Kyuubi.'_

She looked over to her sensei, eagerly awaiting his proud smile at her finally succeeding in properly executing the forbidden jutsu only to frown in dissappointment when she saw the mask that covered most of his face.

"How was that sensei?" she asked with a proud grin as she looked over her handiwork. There before her were three perfect clones. After her first clone, she had made three more, just to make sure she really had it and that it wasn't just luck. Her sensei's unmasked eye turned up in a smile at his student's success.

"Good Job Sakura." he said as he looked over her clones and saw them walking and functioning like regular human beings. One of Sakura's old clones looked perfectly fine, but kept speaking in jibberish and running into trees.

"Would you like to learn the new technique now, or tomorrow after having rested?"

"Now!" she answered immediately even though only moments ago, she was panting at the amount of chakra making the clones had used up. She blushed at her Naruto-like eagerness. "I mean, I've been excited to learn it for a long time."

"Alright, I guess today, we could at least go over the basics of the technique." he said before he gestured for her to follow. She happily complied, dispersing her clones to save energy, not able to take her mind off of whatever it was she was about to learn.

The shinobi made their way to a river before the older of the two stopped and pulled out a small piece of paper.

"I'm just curious, hold this piece of paper and concentrate some chakra into your fingers." Sakura gave the Jonin a curious glance before slowly reaching for the small paper.

"Ok?" she answered before doing as he asked. Her eyes widened in surprise as the small paper randomly began to dampen with water.

"Kakashi-sensei? What just happened?" she asked, surprised at the result her chakra had on the damp sheet that still sat between her fingers. Her confusion turned to annoyance as she heard the unmistakable sound of a chuckle.

"Hey! Is this some kind of prank? We really don't have time for this Kakasi-sensei!" she scolded the ex-Anbu with a glare.

"No, no. It wasn't a joke Sakura, I was testing to see what chakra element you are, and based on that wet piece of paper that has you so startled, it seems you're water." he said still smiling at her reaction. Realizing the true reason behind his laughter, the kunoichi crossed her arms defensively.

"Whatever, it's not even that funny" she stated defensively. She grew annoyed and pouted as his chuckling continued.

"Shouldn't you be teaching me some technique now?" she reminded her goofy sensei. He nodded, and his childish playfulness shifted to a sternness.

"Alright." he started. "Years ago, when you guys were merely genin, I taught you a technique that allowed you to walk on solid objects in different positions, whether it be sideways, diagonal, or upside-down, a technique that you mastered perfectly almost immediately." he explained walking up the trunk of a tree, then on a branch until he was hanging upside-down. Sakura nodded and the Jonin jumped from the tree and made his way to the river near by.

"Then you learned to use chakra to walk on less stable ground, like water." Sakura nodded again, still not grasping the point of his explanations.

"Well now, I will teach you a technique that will allow you to travel on the least stable ground of all... air." he said, smirking at her reaction as he saw her eyes widened. He then began to take slow, steady steps off the water, and into pure open space. He lifted an arm and grabbed the air, letting his body hang loosely, as if from a monkey bar. He ran up towards the sky as if up a flight of stairs, easily maneuvering through the sky as if it were a solid object. Sakura gazed up in amazement, wide eyes and an awe-struch grin on her face that quickly turned to spiteful laughter when the showoff Jonin fell from the sky and landed in the water with a _'splash'_. He resurfaced, his wet hair drooping, and his mask covering the embarrased blush on his face as he heard the taunting of his pink-haired student.

"Well, as I said before, even I haven't perfected it." he reminded her, trying and failing to make his failure seem less pathetic. "But based on the skill you've shown in chakra control, I believe you can, Sakura."

The Chunnin blushed at his compliment, the praise she received greatly fueling her confidence.

"Well how does it work, Kakashi-sensei?" he broke through the surface of the water, pulling himself to stand on it using vhakra filled hands and feet.

"As you know, water is constantly moving and shifting in a current. You must control your chakra so that the water shifts under your feet, instead of you moving with the water, otherwise, you and the current will only move together." he explained, gesturing for the kunoichi to come stand with his on the river.

"It's the same with the air, the only difference is that the air is even less stable than the water, and is constantly moving and shifting in different directions." He jumped up, and instead of coming down as gravity pleaded him to, he landed firmly on the air. "You must control your chakra so that the air molecules shift beneath your feet..." he again grabbed at the wind, letting it shift beneath his chakra filled right hand as the rest of his body hung limply in the air. "...and your hands." he finished, swinging himself up, flipping over his head, only to land firmly in a spot, higher than before.

"Didn't you learn from last time Kakashi? Showing off gets you nowhere?" smirking at the memory of his latest failure. "Besides, that doesn't look so hard." she boasted lifting her chakra filled foot, into the air, expecting to pull herself, only for her foot to go straight through the air, as it naturally should, causing her to land flat on her face in the water.

"Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you. The air-walking technique requires more chakra than the water-walking technique since the air moves around more. Too little, and you'll just fall." he _'reminded'_ her as he stepped off the air and onto the blue river, grinning under his mask, satisfied with his revenge. Sakura shook her drenched hair like a wet dog before glaring up at her silver-haired sensei.

* * *

><p>Naruto smiled as Sakura lifted more ramen to his mouth. He slurped it up happily before picking ramen of his own up with his chopsticks and feeding it to the pinkette in return. She slurped it up as well and they smiled at eachother, happy just to be in the other's presence.<p>

"Naruto-kun..." she started with a blush, leaning towards him.

"Sakura-chan..." he breathed as he mirrored her actions of leaning. They were mere inches away when a swift kick to the ribs violently tugged Naruto out of his blissful slumber. He woke to a growling stomach and aching back at having to sleep on the floor of his cell.

"Ow! Karin, you don't have to wake me so violently!" he yelled as he picked up his plate of food, grumbling at how he had been woken up from his wonderful dream.

"So anyway, what did Sasuke-teme say this time. Was it funny? Though I'm sure nothing will beat what he said last night!" he said, referring to Sasuke's sleep talking habits that he and Karin laughed about whenever she came to serve him his meals. He ate his food, happily thinking about Sasuke's hilarious sleep talking comment from the night before.

For the few days he'd been held captive, he and Karin had started a budding friendship, which is usually the result of anyone that comes into contact with Naruto's charisma and appealing personality. He and Karin talked and joked a lot, and on multiple occassions she had vowed that though she couldn't help him escape, she would do everything in her power to make sure Sasuke didn't hurt Naruto.

However today she seemed cold. Naruto couldn't see her as she stood in the shadows. She didn't sit with him, or laugh with him, or even talk to him. He raised in eyebrow in question, wondering if the person before him was even Karin.

"Karin?" he questioned, putting his half eaten plate of food down, staring at the figure before him that was hidden by the shadows.

"Still slow to catch on, aren't you?" Naruto's eyes widened at the sound of the voice before him. The room seemed to get colder as the figure slowly stepped out of the shadows.

"Sasuke..."

"Remind me to punish Karin later. What I dream about is none of your buisness." he stated staring down at him with bright red eyes. His comment broke Naruto from his previous state of being shocked speechless and caused a smirk to form on his lips.

"Then maybe you should keep them to yourself." he taunted, his smirk growing as he saw the Uchiha's mouth fall into a small frown.

"Not much has changed, you're still as immature and childish as ever." he insulted.

"And I see you're still as much of a cocky bastard as ever." Naruto retorted, indeed childishly.

"Good thing I don't have to deal with your personality when using my technique." he replied with a smirk.

"What are yo-" his statement was cut short when he saw Sasuke's three tomoe formed into the shape of a wheel. His head started to pound, his brain seemingly burning away. He slowly lost conciousness, the last image he saw, blood dripping from Sasuke's Mangekyou Sharingan. He drifted away, the sounds of his own heavy breathing fading as he became a mere shell, a puppet, and Sasuke pulled the strings.

**Hope you enjoyed the chapter 5 rewrite and please review! **

**Keep on Reading!**


	6. Chapter 6

**Here's Chapter 6 rewritten! Hope you enjoy!**

Sakura dispersed her five shadow clones, and suddenly gained a flash of their experiences. Clone number one used too little chakra and fell, Clones number Two and Four ended up flying around with the air molecules due to using too much chakra and attaching herself to them instead of letting them shift under her feet. Clones Three and Five did it perfectly. She used the memories of her clones and attempted to run up the air like a flight of stairs from the water. She had already perfected stepping into air from solid ground and stepping into the air and standing still. Now she was learning to step into the air from the water where she already had chakra in her feet, and she had to increase it to the perfect amount. She also wanted to learn walking up air and moving instead of just standing still.

She took a deep breath before slowly lifting her foot off the water, her foot merely swung through the air as she attempted to take a step. She grunted before channeling a little more chakra to her feet, remembering her clones experiences and what Kakashi-sensei had taught her. She slowly took a step a few feet above the river, successfully standing in the air. Using her expertise in chakra control she made sure to keep the chakra in her feet consistent as she took another step, towards the sky. She continued to step upwards, steadily quickening her pace until she was running, as if up a flight of stairs. Then she stopped after being many feet in the air. At the altitude she stood, her fall would be very painful. She realized that now, she would have to step down. Now that she was working with gravity, instead of against it, she needed slightly less chakra, or she would fly around with the air, too little and she would fall.

She slowly took a step down, decreasing the chakra in her foot and let out a sigh of relief when her foot stayed in the air. She continued to calmly walk down, feeling superior as she easily walked through the sky. When she was a few feet from the ground, she reached her hand up and grabbed at the air with a chakra-filled hand. She giggled as she hung from the air and flipped herself over her head, just as she had seen Kakashi do the day before. She jumped, landing higher instead of falling back to her previous position. With this technique, she defied gravity.

"Well done, Sakura!" praised the silver-haired jounin. "You're farther along in two days than I got in a month!" he congratulated her as she hopped from the sky to land in front of him on the water.

"Arigatou Kakashi-sensei!" she said smiling brightly.

_'Cha! Who needs Sharingan? I mastered it perfectly fine on my own!'_ she inwardly praised herself in an Inner Sakura-like fashion.

"It's nothing. That was all you and your will to never give up. I was just here to explain the concept, you put it into action." he replied modestly.

She ran up to the jounin and hugged him, catching the ex-Anbu completely by surprise.

"Really, thank you." she said as she wrapped her arms around his waist. "You're actually making saving Naruto a possibility! I never would've gotten this far without you." she released him, smiling up at her old teacher. "Besides being late all the time, and never taking your eyes off that pervy book, you really are a great sensei."

Her words warmed his heart and caused a genuine smile to appear under his masked face.

"Well your training isn't over yet!" he exclaimed. "I still have a lot to teach you!" he stated, causing the pink-haired Chunnin's face to brighten.

"Alright!" she exclaimed before joyfully back-flipping into the air, her excitement rivaling even that of Naruto's.

_'Now who's the show-off.'_ thought Kakashi with a smile as Sakura performed a series of tricks using the air-walking technique.

"What's next?" she asked eagerly from her perch in the sky.

* * *

><p>Karin, Jugo, and Suigetsu watched as Sasuke trained his jutsu with Naruto. It had been a few days since he had first started training with it. First, he had started with small commands, like sit, open the door, take off your shoes. After noticing no side effects, he moved on to slightly harder commands like channel chakra to your feet, make three Shadow Clones, or activate Rasengan.<p>

When these also had no effect, he attempted more general commands, for example, he would have Jugo attack Naruto and instead of telling Naruto what attacks to use, he would say a simple _'Fight Jugo'_, giving him control of what moves to use, but still while in an unconscious and state of mind. Sasuke noticed when he said '_Kill Suigetsu' _he would fight harder and more ruthlessly, than if he had just said _'fight'_. Today he tested the effects of commanding Naruto to activate Sage Mode. After Naruto completed the task successfully with no set backs or side effects, he was released from the jutsu.

"Someone take him back to his cell before he wakes up." Sasuke said before walking away from Naruto's unconscious body. Karin immediately jumped up to drag Naruto back to his cell.

"Why do you always carry him back?" Suigetsu inquired.

"Why not?" she retorted, rudely.

"No reason, it's just weird how your always jumping at the chance to be with him. You carry him back after training, you deliver all his meals, and don't think I don't see you sneak into his cell for no reason." Suigetsu teased with a taunting smirk.

"Naruto's good company. Unlike some people around here, actually, are you even really a person?" she inquired, referring to his fish like characteristics. This immediately wiped the teasing smile off his face.

"At least I'm not an ugly four-eyed freak that hopelessly harasses a guy that doesn't even look at her twice." he retorted. For a second, Karin's eyes widened with hurt, but they settled into a glare before she turned and walked away.

"Whatever. You're always trying to pick a fight. Just leave me alone." she commanded before walking away, the blond boy in tow.

Suigetsu's words rang through her head. It was true that Sasuke constantly rejected her, and Suigetsu always brought it up in their arguments. Maybe she had too much confidence in her looks. Was she really ugly? Sasuke and Suigetsu seemed to think so.

The red-head sighed before clearing her head of thoughts of Suigetsu. In an attempt to block out his words, she tried turning her mind to the blue-eyed teen on her back.

Having Naruto so close to her sent chills up her spine as she felt the dark, evil chakra within him, closer than ever. Though the chakra was a bit discomforting, it contrasted greatly with his regular nice, calming chakra, which added an edge to the blond boy that she liked a lot.

She sat him down in his cell and chained him before shaking him from his comatose state.

"Naruto! Wake up!" she said, shaking him until his eyelids lifted, slowly revealing the beautiful blue orbs beneath.

"Karin?" he rubbed his eyes and sat up looking around the room.

"Do you think I'm ugly?" she blurted before she could stop herself. She internally berated herself for her outburst, nervous for his reply. Why in the world would she ask him that?

"What?" he asked with wide eyes. She shut her own eyes, sadly anticipating his disgusted reply. "Why would anybody think _you're_ ugly?"

"I know, sorry I- wait!" she processed his words, her eyes widening at their meaning. "You... don't think so?" she asked perking up at the realization.

"Where do you girls get this stuff?" he asked, remembering a time Sakura had also dared to insult herself in his presence. Boy had he told her straight. "Of course not, you're very pretty!"

A light blush made it's way onto her pale cheeks from his blatant compliment and warm, inviting chakra. She broke into a bright smile she hadn't had in a long time.

"Arigato, I really needed that." she said, glad Naruto was able to lift her self-esteem so easily. She hadn't felt this good about herself in a while. How did Naruto have this effect on her?

"No problem." he said, waving off her gratitude. "So, what happened in training today?" Karin sighed, her good mood declining. She knew Naruto wouldn't like what she had to tell him.

"Sasuke can order you to activate Sage Mode successfully. He has access to pretty much all of your power at this point." she said dejectedly.

"This is terrible. I have to find a way to talk to Sasuke. But every time he sees me, he just activates the jutsu." Naruto cried in distress. His eyes turned desperately to Karin.

"Is there ever a point where his Mangekyou Sharingan wears out and the jutsu deactivates itself?" Naruto asked hopefully. His body drooping with disappointment when he saw her shake her head.

"Sorry Naruto, he doesn't have to use his Mangekyou Sharingan for the entire jutsu. He uses it to activate it and he uses it to deactivate it, but all that time in between, he doesn't need it." she informed him, feeling her already happiness slip away, as she saw his downcast features.

She debated telling him that after using Mangekyou Sharingan for too long, Sasuke could go blind, however she decided against it. She had told Naruto too much already. Telling him anymore would be like betraying Sasuke. Besides, it wouldn't really matter since Sasuke only had to use Mangekyou Sharingan for very short periods of time, prolonging his blindness. That's probably why he's using Naruto. So he could use his power allowing him to keep his eyesight for longer.

"Karin." Naruto's voice called, breaking her out of her thoughts. "If I found a way to escape... would you try to stop me?" her eyes widened at his statement. Conflicting feelings errupted violently inside of her.

"Naruto... you're asking me to choose between you and my team." she replied, unable to give him an answer. She really liked Naruto, and she absolutely hated seeing him in this predicament, but she couldn't betray Taka.

"Right right, sorry Karin. That was a pretty dumb question." he answered, eyes fixed on the ground. Karin shook her head. She shouldn't have befriended Naruto. Things were getting too confusing now. She was losing herself. Naruto made her wonder why she loved Sasuke, besides his looks. Naruto made her wonder if she truly could ever be a good person after working with Orochimaru. Naruto made her wonder why she was a part of Team Taka in the first place. Her decisions were becoming less obvious. She was less and less sure of whether or not she was doing what she should.

"You could come with me you know." she barely heard Naruto's whispered voice as it yanked her from her thoughts.

"Wh-What?" she stuttered in disbelief. Had she heard him right?

"You... you don't have to stay here. I'm not sure how you came to join Sasuke's group, but-"

"I joined Sasuke's group completely of my own will." she replied, dispelling any thoughts of her being forced to join Taka.

"Well, you can come back to Konoha with me. I'll convince Baa-chan not to put you in prison! I have lots of friends there that would accept you. I'm pretty sure you and Sakura-chan would get along well! And I'd be your friend! Konoha's great! You'd be happy and-"

"Naruto!" she said, interrupting his rambling. She knew he was trying to paint this perfect paradise for her to be welcomed into, but it could never be. Life just wasn't fair like that, she could never be welcomed after working for Orochimaru and affiliating herself with an S-rank criminal. It wasn't possible. People just weren't that forgiving. Nobody would accept her.

_'Naruto accepted you.'_

She clenched her teeth and balled her hands into fists. She couldn't think straight, she was confused and that made her angry. She had accepted that she was a bad person a long time ago. Why did Naruto have to come and make her question her values?

"Please help me get out of here. I know you know it's the right thing to do. I don't make empty promises, and I promise you'll be happy. I'm trying to save Sasuke, I can save you too!" he said deperately.

"Naruto I-I can't... I'm not talking about this right now. I'll come later to deliver your dinner." she said quickly before scrambling to her feet and hurrying away from his cell. She had too many feelings in there that she just couldn't deal with.

Imagine her surprise when on her way out of the cell, she runs into none other than Uchiha Sasuke.

"S-Sasuke-kun?"

"Hmm, so it seems Naruto's speech skills haven't declined much over the years."

"Sasuke-kun, what-"

"He's good at making pretty, hopeful speeches Karin, but don't be fooled." he informed her, remembering all the times Naruto _'changed'_ people with his words and attitude alone. "He convinced Zabuza Momochi, Demon of the Mist, to abandon his mission and sacrifice himself. People are moved by his words, and sometimes, it costs them their life." he explained, chilling Karin with the darkness of his chakra.

"Karin, if you're moved by his words, and you betray me, it _will_ cost you yours." he stated before turning on his heel and walking away from the stunned red-headed girl. As he walked, he nonchalantly called over his shoulder.

"I'll be delivering Naruto's meals from now on." were his final words before dissappearing into the darkness of the dimly lit hall.

Sasuke's threat left her stunned. What could she do? Naruto was right, she knew escaping with him was the right thing to do, but she also knew Sasuke didn't make empty threats. Death or Life? Good or Evil? Naruto or Sasuke?

So the question that remained at the end of her encounters?

Did she want to live a criminal or die a hero?

**Thanks for reading! Be sure to leave a review telling me what you think! **

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	7. Chapter 7

**Hello and welcome to Chapter 7! This was my last chapter before my two year hiatus. Everything after this will be new material. This is a bit of a filler chapter. Next Chapter is the long awaited altercation!  
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**Thanks to everyone that favorited, subscribed, or reviewed the old version of this story! I really ****appreciate it!**

Naruto was caged. He was trapped and enslaved, forced to follow the every whim of his captor the second he saw a glimpse of those crimson, wheeled eyes. He was stripped of his will daily. He was forced away from the friends he has come to know as family so he can waste away in a cold dark cell.

But most of all... he was bored as hell.

The chakra-suppressor shackles left him daydreaming, and making faces with his food as his only form of entertainment. Sometimes, he would play games with himself, seeing how fast he could take off his shoes and put them back on.

His new record was 6 seconds.

Granted, sometimes he would count a little slower when he realized he wouldn't beat his previous record.

The past few days had been lonely. He hadn't seen Karin since he had tried to talk her into escaping with him. He had no idea how he would live with himself if he had gotten her in trouble. Sasuke would come, sure, but the bastard would only walk in, drop off his food, and leave before Naruto could get a word in. That, or he would activate his Mangekyou for training.

After a few days of solitude, Naruto started talking to himself. His daydreams started becoming more vivid, and he would pretend he was actually living it, talking to those who appeared.

"Of course Tsunade baa-chan! I'd love to be Hokage!" he exclaimed to the Fifth that had recently offered him her position as ruler of the village.

"Forget the council! Of course I'm old enough to accept!"

"Wow dobe, going crazy already?"

"Ha! See? I brought teme back to the village! Anyone who could sway that bastard is certainly worthy of-_itai_!" though the punch to the head had successfully broken the blond from his hallucinations, the black-eyed boy's only display of gratitude was a glare from the delusional blond.

"What the hell, kono yaro?!" Naruto yelled at the Sharingan user.

"You were hallucinating, and I brought you back to reality."

"Oh! A full sentence! You're one step closer to being something other than a bastard!" Naruto replied. His eyes widening as he realized this time talking to Sasuke should be used getting answers instead of bantering.

"What did you do to Karin?" was his first exclaimed question. "And why am I here? What are you trying to use me for?" he said averting his eyes as he spoke, avoiding the gaze of his captor, in case he decided to sport a certain wheeled eye.

"Like I have to answer to you, Usuratonkatchi." he answered before activating his Sharingan, just as he was about to do the same with his Managekyou, he was ceased by Naruto's words.

"What are you so afraid of?" he asked, his voice stopping Sasuke in his tracks.

The raven haired teen merely narrowed his eyes, silently inquiring what the blond meant by his words.

"You always rush in and out of here, throwing me my food, or activating that stupid jutsu as if you're afraid to talk to me or something?"

"Hn. Afraid of you? That's hilarious." was his easy reply.

"Could've fooled me." taunted the jinchuriki.

"I just try to hear your annoying voice as little as possible." the Uchiha replied, cooly.

"Really? Because I think you're a coward who's afraid that I might actually convince him to do the _right thing_!"

"And what might that be?" Sasuke asked with a smirk.

"Coming back to the village, of course." Naruto said, cocking his head to the side in confusion.

"I _am _going back to Konoha, dobe." as opposed to the joy the statement should've caused, it only caused the blond to raise a skeptical eyebrow at his ex-comrade.

"What are you talking about?" he asked, hardly believing the vengeful Uchiha would have a "sudden change of heart" without some prodding.

"Let's just say, I now know who's truly to blame for the pain I've suffered." Naruto shook his head.

"You sound so weak." such a short statement, those few words, caused an explosion of anger from Sasuke that nobody could've seen coming. Naruto knew how effective his comment had been the moment he felt the Uchiha's pale fist connect with his whiskered cheek.

"_I'm_ weak? Look at you! Helplessly chained to the floor of my cell hopelessly held down to my every command! Who does that make the weak one?" he exclaimed in retaliation. Naruto rubbed his bruised face before glaring up at his prideful captor.

"Still you, Bastard. You're letting other people get the best of you, and control what you do. You're letting one hurtful memory control everything that happens after. I've been there, Sasuke. I know how pain, and loneliness feels. And honestly, the village loved you. You were good at everything, you had the best grades, and honestly, at one point, I-I think I kind of admired you."

"_I bet._" the pale teen noted sarcastically, remembering all the times the orange-clad ninja had tried to jump him for no good reason. His comment caused a small smirk to make it's way onto the face of the hyperactive ninja.

"Yeah, well, you never would've guessed it, but more than anything I wanted your attention. I wanted you to acknowledge me. I had always been alone, so sometimes I would be rude and play pranks, just because I wanted people to notice me, even if it was for the wrong reasons. But you... you were different, I wanted you to acknowledge me as an equal. I wanted us to understand each other, and I wanted us to be friends. Sasuke, I've been through pain, and I've overcome it, it was Konoha that caused me that pain and now Konoha is the very village I strive to one day be the protector of." Sasuke scoffed at this.

"I don't see why. The entire village was completely defenseless against Pain, but you took him down. I'm sure you could take down that stupid village. You could easily avenge yourself." the Uchiha stated, hoping maybe if he changed Naruto's way of thinking, he would stop trying to preach to him.

"You're wrong. I wouldn't be able to take down Konoha... and neither can you." Sasuke hadn't told him he was trying to take down Konoha, but Naruto could take a guess.

Sasuke wearily raised an eyebrow, silently inquiring about the meaning of his words. This conversation had been going on for too long. He refused to let Naruto sway him.

"We both have bonds in Konoha," Naruto explained. "Whether you want to accept it or not, there are people there that love you and miss you. I have embraced my bonds, and they have helped to erase the hatred from my heart. I realized if you accept the people that love you, hatred won't matter. And the day I realized this, I swear it felt like a weight was lifted off my shoulders." The blond sighed and looked deep into red and black eyes, searching for understanding.

"I know Sasuke, I understand, hatred is a heavy burden to carry. I've let go of my hatred, so now I'm free, and strong as ever. No one can carry hatred for long, and now you're letting it crush you, and it's making you weak." Sasuke stared at the village idiot, though he refused to let any emotion slip from his mask of indifference, he truly was surprised. Naruto was so stupid sometimes, and the next second he sounded so wise. Was this the same dobe that was talking to himself only moments ago?

"You can preach to me all you want, but I've made my choice. I thought for a little while, that I could accept living a life with friends and abandon my revenge, but it was all just a distraction. It always came back to avenging the people I care about. To think_ 'friendship'_ could erase the hatred in my heart after I watched everyone I knew get taken away from me? You truly are naiive. Now that I know just who to take revenge on, nothing will stand in my way."

"Sasuke, I promise, if you come back to the village peacefully, you won't have to carry your hatred alone, I will help you carry that burden, and eventually, relieve you of it completely, and we will be really happy..." the jinchuriki, who's face had slowly adopted an honest smile as his speech progressed now set it into a firm frown as he continued.

"But if you try to destroy Konoha... I'll do everything in my power to stand in your way." he stated firmly, however he tensed when the brunette stepped forward.

"Actually," the Uchiha started with a grimace. "you're the one who's going to clear the way for me." he said, finally silencing the blond with the activation of his Mangekyou Sharingan. He kneeled down to unshackle the now red-eyed blond and take him on their final mission together, to destroy the place they once called home.

_'Besides, Naruto...'_ he thought as they walked to meet up with the rest of Taka. He looked over and frowned slightly when he saw the empty crimson eyes of the boy who was once his best friend. '_the only bond I had in that pathetic village strong enough to stop me from destroying it is now right here next to me.'_

Soon, it would all be over.

* * *

><p>"Sakura, Kakashi tells me you have improved extremely quickly in the few weeks you have been training." Tsunade told her student. Sakura remained silent as her Hokage spoke.<p>

"I have set up a team of ninja to accompany you on your mission." she added. Sakura's gaze fell to the floor as she heard this. A team of ninja? This was her fight. This was what she had worked hard for. _She_ had to save Naruto since it was her weakness that got him captured in the first place. It was her duty and his friend and teammate.

"Tsunade-sama. May I request that I go on this mission alone." Sakura asked, causing the Sanin's eyes to widen.

"Sakura, Sasuke is an S-rank criminal, Naruto was able to defeat Pein who destroyed this entire village! I really don't think-"

"Please... have faith in me." Sakura pleaded. And for a few moments it was silent, the weight of this request a heavy burden on the blond Hokage's shoulders.

"You may go if accompanied by Kakashi." she finally replied. "He will lead the mission and if he sees you fit to fight alone..." she trailed off as she saw happy tears fill the eyes of her apprentice.

"Thank you, Tsunade-sama." she said with a smile before bowing and making her way to the door. She stopped short, however, at the sound of her master's voice.

"Make sure you and the brat get back in one piece, ya hear?" The statement only made the young Chunin smile grow, her eyes shining with hope.

"I intend to."

* * *

><p>"These hills are so annoying!" Suigetsu complained as Taka made their way towards Konoha.<p>

"There's a forest up ahead, so the land will flatten and we'll be able to travel through the trees." Sasuke explained.

"There are ninja headed this way!" Karin suddenly exclaimed. She closed her eyes, focusing her attention on the chakra she felt coming towards them. "Feels like two ninja... and a small animal summon." she said pointing to the direction they were traveling... Konoha. She immediately felt guilt stir in her and she quickly retracted her arm. She looked over at the blond she had become so fond of these past few days and frowned. She was betraying him right before his eyes, sure, he wouldn't remember any of it when the jutsu was deactivated, but the guilt was still there. He would open his eyes and see his village in ruins and know that she was a part of it. He had been nothing but nice to her since the day they met. He had offered her happiness and redemption, and she was spitting it back in his face by helping destroy everything he held dear...

Could she really do that to him?

"They're just Konoha nin." Sasuke replied nonchalantly. "We'll wait for them here, the moment they show up, Suigetsu, Juugo, kill them." he ordered, causing the water shinobi's face to light up.

"Yes!" he cheered, unsheathing his sword. "I've been itching to kill for a long time now." he stated with a smirk.

"You'll have plenty of people to kill once we reach Konoha." Sasuke said, looking over at the forest.

"Soon, ninja will burst through those trees, and once they are disposed of, we will go to Konoha, and I will get my revenge." He said, looking over at the blond of his companions.

He and Naruto both.

* * *

><p>"I can smell his scent clearly! Sasuke and Naruto are straight up ahead, with a few other ninja." Pakkun stated earning a smile from the emerald-eyed kunoichi.<p>

She was confident and hopeful, she had grown stronger in these past few weeks than she ever had in her entire life. She knew she could save Naruto, at this point, that's all she wanted, yet...

She couldn't shake that feeling of foreboding.

"They're right through these trees." said the canine, that apparently used the same shampoo as her.

"Thank you, Pakkun." Kakashi said gratefully before the small dog nodded and returned to his summon world. He turned to his old student.

"You ready?" he asked, mentally reminding her that the only way she could win this was with confidence.

"Yes." she stated firmly. "I'm ready." were her final words before her and her sensei burst through the trees. There they saw many hills, and on top of one stood their target.

Three ninja she didn't know stood among her old teammates, though she barely noticed them as her eyes locked with Sasuke's.

"Sasuke-kun..." she muttered, remembering what she learned, remembering what she trained for. Her eyes shifted over to Naruto, his eyes glistening a deep crimson red.

And she would stop at nothing until they were shining a hopeful blue again.

"Kill them." she heard Sasuke order.

She was ready.

**Hope you enjoyed this chapter and I especially hope you enjoy the next! Please review and tell me what you think! Constructive criticism is very welcome.**

**Keep on Reading!**


	8. Chapter 8

**Here we go! Hopefully this isn't a disaster. Sorry for the wait! Enjoy!**

Sasuke certainly left no time for dramatics. No intense eye contact as the wind blew through their hair. No final words of acknowledgement before they prepared for battle. No sign of regret in Sasuke's dark eyes as he ordered his teammates to _kill_ his ex-comrades. There was nothing stopping Sakura from fighting him with everything she had, his aloofness only succeeding in hardening her resolve to complete the task of killing him and releasing Naruto from his control. No, there was no time for dramatics. Just a simple command, and Sasuke's two teammates were running at her and Kakashi at full speed. And Sakura was ready.

A boy with white hair ran at her top speed, expertly handling his sword to maim. He cackled slightly as the thrill of battle pumped him with adrenaline. Sakura prepared to send a surge of chakra to her fist and hopefully finish him off with her signature move before the battle began. But Sasuke would never have a weak teammate, something made him powerful. As the boy approached, Sakura stepped back pulling her fist back as far as it could go and sent a surge of chakra to her feet, launching her at him as fast as she could go.

"Shannaro!" she yelled as she aimed her deadly fist at him. Her well aimed punch however, only met air and a little bit of moisture as she swiped through the spot he once stood and headed straight towards the ground. She sent another surge of chakra to her fist before it collided with the earth causing the once flawless green field to be maimed by a gaping hole that sent grass and dirt flying in the air, obstructing the vision of anyone too close. As the cloud of dirt cleared, Suigetsu stood only a few feet away from the giant hole that occupied the spot he once stood, smirk on his face and completely unharmed.

"Wow, good thing I dodged that, or I would've been a goner!" He said, not even allowing Sakura time to be shocked before he ran towards her once again. Sakura only made two clones before dodging a swing of his sword, mercilessly aimed to behead her. She and her clones threw punch after punch, but his swordsmanship was incredible, and she spent more effort dodging his attacks while he wasted none at all dodging hers. Her eyes widened as she finally aimed one chakra infused punch directly at his head only to have it disappear before her eyes.

_'He's turning into water?!' _she thought dodging another swing. _'How the hell am I supposed to land a hit on him?' _

She sent chakra to her feet, using the boost to jump far away from the shark-toothed boy as he immediately took out both of her clones. His sadistic grin only widened as they turned to water and fell to the ground uselessly.

"So we're both Water Style users?" he chuckled lightly. "This fight just got a lot more interesting."

He ran at her once again, and Sakura was reduced to mere dodging as she desperately thought of a strategy to defeat her opponent. She looked over at Kakashi, who was dealing with his own battle against the red-haired, now half demon boy who had also stood by Sasuke's side.

_'I could really use your help right now Kakashi-sensei.'_ she thought helplessly as she slowly felt the beginning signs of fatigue, she still needed to save her energy for her battle with Sasuke and Naruto. She glanced over at the aforementioned boys and scowled as she saw Sasuke emotionlessly stare at the battles before him while Naruto stared into nothing with soulless, crimson red eyes. Eyes that were previously filled with life, devotion, determination, and a magnificent blue that she would strive to get back even if at the cost of her life.

_'No, this is my fight.'_ she said swinging and missing yet another well aimed hit. _'I will defeat _anyone_ and _everyone_ who stands in my way.'_

"I WILL SAVE NARUTO!" she exclaimed throwing a chakra filled fist at her opponents exposed ribs, feeling body turn to water beneath her fist just one moment too late.

"_Shit_, that _hurt_!" the boy cried out, jumping away from Sakura, clutching his side in pain. _'Damn, she got me. And if I had shifted one moment later, she would've punched a hole through me.' _

Suigetsu looked up at the pink-haired girl, glaring. "I'll take your damn head off for that!" he yelled charging towards her.

"No!" she yelled pumping chakra into her joints as she jumped in the air. "This fight is over!" gravity pulled her back to earth, her fists aimed and ready. Suigetsu's eyes widened as she used the same move she did to start the fight.

_'What's she doing that move for again? She knows I can just turn into water.'_ he thought, doing just that as her fist got closer, but right before they made contact she made a Ram and then a Tiger sign. A stream of thick liquid burst from her hands drowning the liquefied body before her. She landed with a crash, using chakra to protect her as she fell, causing another explosion in the ground as she landed.

Everyone's eyes were drawn to the thick cloud of dirt that filled the air after yet another unexpected explosion. As the dust cleared the air, any onlookers saw the surprising sight of Sakura panting on all fours and Suigetsu wriggling on the ground, struggling to break free from invisible bonds. Suigetsu cursed as his legs refused to open and his arms stuck firmly to his sides.

"What the hell did you do to me?!" he exclaimed still struggling to break free, but from what, he had no clue.

"Water Style Syrup Trap. Usually its a pretty weak attack, and easy to escape, but when you turned into water, it blended with the water in your body so that when you re-materialized, you would be unable to move, too sticky with chakra." she explained, smirking in victory at his wiggling form.

"No! I won't be taken down by some lame ass C-rank jutsu!" Sakura simply ignored his claims, repeating the jutsu and covering him from neck to toe in thick syrup, further immobilizing him, and a little on his mouth to shut him up.

When Sakura looked over, she saw Kakashi standing next to the unconscious body of the red-haired boy he was fighting.

"I could've taken him." She stated with a small pout. Kakashi seemed to smile under his mask as he patted her on her shoulder.

"I know," he said turning his gaze to Naruto and Sasuke. "But you have a bigger battle ahead of you. Do you have enough chakra?" he asked with concern.

"Who knows." She replied vaguely, though he seemed to understand since he nodded.

"Yeah."

"Thank you, Kakashi-sensei."

"No time for heartfelt, sappy moments... but I'm proud of you." he turned her around and gave her a light shove in the direction of her childhood teammates. "You can do this. Naruto's counting on you. And I'm here if you need me."

Sakura smiled at her sensei before nodding and running towards the battle that would decide their fate, once and for all.

* * *

><p>Before Sakura could even focus her eyes on her two opponents, she was dodging a stream of chidori-senbon headed straight for her. She took only a moment to admire the precision required to make each senbon aim at one of her vital points with a mere flick of the wrist.<p>

"That won't work on me again, Sasuke-kun, I'm much stronger now than I was the last time we fought."

"Sakura." he started with a scoff. "Give up. Your power just doesn't compare to ours. No matter how hard you work... you will never catch up-"

The dark haired boy had absolutely no time to react to the ground shattering like glass from the sheer force of Sakura's chakra filled fist. The earthquake like tremor was so powerful, in fact, that he couldn't help but lose his balance and fall, quite shamefully, on his ass. To top it all off, he didn't even have a second to recover from his wounded pride, for soon after, he was rolling out of the way of an extremely powerful stream of water that certainly would have broken every bone in his body had it hit.

"Sasuke..." Sakura said with a smirk as she cracked her knuckles. "Shut up." Sasuke's eyes narrowed as he stood. His eyes gleamed red, and Sakura suddenly felt a presence behind her. She swiftly turned only to come face to whiskered face with her mind controlled teammate. A strong pulse of chakra, and suddenly she was just barely avoiding a Rasengan impaling her through the stomach. She swallowed thickly at the thought of almost being killed by the most cheerful, inspiring, and hopeful person she knew, someone she cared for so deeply...

"I gave Naruto the command to defend me at all costs. The moment you attacked me, you became his greatest enemy."

"You're very talkative today, aren't you Sasuke-kun?" though the emerald eyed girl had intended to irritate him with her words, she was surprised to see the avenger smirk at her comment, and give a nonchalant shrug.

"I'm just so excited to finally see you and the rest of Konoha perish at my hands." the kunoichi had no time to ponder his statement before her thoughts were interrupted by what felt like a gust of wind. Her eyes widened with fear as she turned to see a Wind Release Rasenshuriken headed towards her top speed. As a last resort before every single cell in her body was attacked and destroyed, she jumped. She jumped with all her might. She sent chakra to her knees, ankles, hips, shoulders, elbows, every single joint in her body, so she could land high enough to avoid the deadly attack. And thankfully, with all the effort she put, she landed high above the ground and stayed suspended in the air as the Rasenshuriken passed right under her feet, the chakra from the attack sending a shiver down her spine.

"Hmm, looks like you've learned a new trick."

"Sasuke... that move..." she started, ignoring his comment. "It's extremely harmful to him! It completely destroys the cells in his arm. If he keeps using it, he will be permanently damaged! So..." still suspended in the air, she rolled her body away from a gust of wind chakra that would have cleanly sliced her in half.

"If you ever want your _weapon_ to wield chakra again, _please_ don't let him use that move." she pleaded desperately. She didn't know what she would do if Naruto, who has been working so hard his whole life to get this powerful, who has only ever wanted to protect his comrade's and become Hokage, could no longer wield chakra, which he needs to fulfill both tasks.

Sasuke's eyes widened in surprise and darted towards Naruto with a shadow of worry that luckily went undetected by the pink-haired chunin. He quickly got over his shock and reverted to his emotionless facade.

"Tch, like I care. If this one stops working, I'll get a new one, just like any other weapon." Sakura's eyes darkened at his words.

"Then I'll kill you before he can use it again!" she yelled, dropping to the ground, creating a giant earth tremor as she landed to get Sasuke off balance, and creating two shadow clones. Sakura and the clones all combined their chakra to make a giant wave of chakra infused water. The technique used a lot of chakra, and Sakura was afraid if she didn't get the upper hand, she would soon be running on empty.

Unfortunately, however, the avenger sent an equally large fireball towards the stream, turning the water to harmless vapor. Soon the air was thick with hot steam that completely obstructed her view. She was sweating profusely in the heat. She did everything she could to control her breathing, and hopped into the air so her footsteps wouldn't make noise in the charred grass and give away her position. The kunoichi was officially down to her last bit of chakra, she had to find Sasuke before he found her, or it would all be over.

She closed her eyes and focused on her shadow clones, deciding to make a few more and have them search for her ex-teammate in the fog. Sakura had the advantage of her clones, and noiseless steps from walking through the air. But Sasuke had Sharingan, which allowed him to sense her chakra better, and Naruto, who would kill her on sight.

Suddenly she received an onslaught of memories. Sasuke had killed one of her clones using Amaterasu, which she had learned was a black flame that never went out, and could be inflicted with a mere glance. She gulped, and had to fight back a whimper at the thought. If she was caught in those flames, she was done for.

The kunoichi's eyes widened as she then felt a presence behind her. She turned, and reached a hand towards the chest of the person, prepared to use her strongest move. The user sends a pulse of chakra towards the heart of their opponent, which would give them a heart attack and kill them. It requires great precision and chakra control, and could usually only be properly used by the greatest of medic nins, especially during the pressure of battle. However, at the last moment, she instead retreated several feet, encasing herself in a shield of water, so Amaterasu would not reach her body. She wondered fearfully if she had made the right decision, if it was Sasuke that had approached her, she could have ended the fight with a single touch, if it was Naruto, she never would've forgiven herself...

"Sakura!" the voiced whispered.

"Kakashi-sensei!" Sakura whispered back with surprise, dropping her water shield to preserve her chakra for when she once again ran into her opponent. "What are you doing in here?"

"I traveled underground to find you. Sakura... I shouldn't have let you fight alone. You're almost out of chakra, and at a great disadvantage in this steam. I've already sent Pakkun to contact reinforcements. Right now, we need to retrea-"

"No!" Sakura backed away and began to look around frantically trying to find Sasuke so she could finish her battle.

"Sakura we have no time to argue!" the steam was beginning to clear up. They didn't have much longer to get out before they were thrust into battle once again. "Come underground with me and we can escape!"

"No! I can still fight! I can still win! Kakashi-sensei, I have to save him! I have to-"

"Amaterasu."

And then there was pain. A burning pain. A pain that started from the center of her back, and crawled across her skin, spreading towards her waist and shoulders. Her body was in shock, and she could feel adrenaline course through her. She knew that soon it would fade, she had to act now, had to fight _now_. One last time, before it was too late. Her hands clenched into fists, her body trembling as she fought through the pain that paralyzed her.

"Urghh!" she grunted as she swiftly turned on her heel, and charged towards her childhood crush. Sasuke, shocked, tried to avoid the black flames that licked her skin, but failed to avoid her chakra filled hands as she roughly jabbed him in some pressure points. She had missed his heart, but had successfully jabbed his shoulders, sending a rush of destructive medic chakra through the limbs attached.

"No!" Sasuke yelled, as he suddenly lost all feeling in his arms. To make matters worst, pain shot through his head, and his vision blurred from his use of the Mangekyou Sharingan. He grunted in frustration and turned his gaze to his opponents. After robbing him of the use of his arms, Sakura had fallen to the floor crying and screaming in pain as the black flames ate away at the skin on her back, spreading until it consumed her whole. He ducked away from a fireball that was so close to hitting him, it singed the tips of the hair on his head. The loss of his arms decreased his speed considerably. He shot a glare at his old sensei, and once again, shot Amaterasu at him, ignoring the pain that shot through his head, and watched as it engulfed his arm and crept along the remaining surface of his body. He then returned his gaze to the whimpering pink haired kunoichi.

"In your final moments, I will make you _suffer_!" he kicked her onto her back, and she looked up at him, fear in her bright, green eyes. That would be her last mistake, for the moment they locked eyes, he sent her into a mentally scarring genjutsu that forced her to relive her most painful memories, while still feeling the pain of burning alive. Sasuke assured that she would live the final moments of her life in complete _agony_. When that task was completed, he turned and ran, arms hanging limply at his side as he ran through the gradually clearing fog.

The moment he was out of sight, the grey haired sensei stood to his feet and activated his own Mangekyou Sharingan. Quickly as possible, he sucked the black flames on his body into his Kamui, dispelling them for good, then did the same for his student twitching and crying on the ground. However, relieving her of the flames did nothing to ease her tormented mind. She still screamed and thrashed about, making it increasingly difficult for the jonin to take her up in his arms, carry her underground, and escape, back to their village. Her breathing was shallow, and her mouth was bleeding, and just from holding her, he could feel her heart beating erratically in her chest. At this point, he could only hope she would survive the journey back to the village.

"Sakura... please..." he ran beneath the earth's surface, thinking about how badly he had failed every single one of his students. "Please, just one day. Just one day until we reach the reinforcements and get you a medic. Hang in there, please."

But his words fell on deaf ears. For as Sakura writhed in his arms, she could only her the words "I am a failure" echo through the walls of her mind.

**I hate hate HATE writing fights! But this was good practice, and surprisingly this is my longest chapter. PLEASE give me constructive criticism on the fight because it is the area I struggle most with. Oh and remember, tell me if you want more SasuNaru or not. I will definitely include more if it's in demand. Anyway, the story's not over yet! We've still got a while to go. **

**I really hope you enjoyed! Please, please, PLEASE, review! Without reviews, I literally have no motivation. Thank you for reading!**


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